SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
0ver the past five years, Kashmir’s small independent music scene has been making waves outside the Valley. Following in the footsteps of pioneers like MC Kash and Mohammad Muneem, a new generation of Kashmiri artists—such as Ahmer, Straight Outta Srinagar, Ali Saifuddin—are finding audiences in the Indian mainland and beyond, with music that blends global sounds with elements of Kashmiri culture. With his debut album Lost; Found, out on May 25, Faheem Abdullah stakes his claim as one of this scene’s most exciting torchbearers.
The 26-year-old musician, writer and filmmaker grew up immersed in music, whether it’s the devotional songs his mother would sing, or the Lucky Ali cassettes his uncle would always be listening to. His formative influences include the alternative-leaning pop-rock of bands like
Jal, Roxen (both from Pakistan) and Agnee, as well as the Kashmiri folk music. “Growing up in Kashmir, we had equal exposure to both Indian and Pakistani music,” he says. “And we took the best from both worlds.”
Literature, particularly Urdu, is also a key inspiration. In fact, Abdullah (who also goes by the moniker ‘The Imaginary Poet’) was a writer long before he became a musician, and the influence of that pedigree is apparent in his old-world lyricism. ‘Ishq’, the lead single, borrows its lyrics about oldschool love from a poem by Pakistani writer Amir Ameer, while the otherworldly ‘Waavo’ is inspired by a sher Abdullah’s grandfather would recite.
“I am trying to tell all these dierent stories from my life,” he says. “There’s a song about separation, one about the bright side of Kashmir, and one about the dark side of love.”
Lost; Found refers to the album’s central concept—these are songs about feeling lost, and finding yourself. But it could also refer to Abdullah’s genre-fluid approach, each song a dierent experiment as he looks for his definitive sound. In this quest, he drafted in a number of contemporaries from Kashmir. “I wanted to make the point that this can be a homegrown album... but still be very international in sound,” he says. “It’s about representation, a way to tell my listeners that I belong to this part of the world.”